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Ottoman Empire

I've been trying to start a game as the Ottoman Empire and make it at least manageable but seem to be having some trouble.

I've only been able to build one factory which has made achieving a stable budget nearly impossible. I had some success with conquering cores back from Egypt but for the most part I can't seem to grow economically at all because I can't afford to build factories.

When you start the game, your #1 move shouldn't be to build a factory, because at your tech level and with your terrible efficiency such a factory is doomed in competition with artisans. First get your admin. efficiency higher up to cut the cost of your government, and then put all you have into Clergy to boost your literacy and maybe one day catch up with the west.

While at that, conquer Egypt (before they get friendly with the Brits and the French) starting with the parts that aren't your core (so you can get the infamy burner working earlier). If Germans want to ally with you, go for it. And good luck against Russia.

“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

When you start the game, your #1 move shouldn't be to build a factory, because at your tech level and with your terrible efficiency such a factory is doomed in competition with artisans. First get your admin. efficiency higher up to cut the cost of your government, and then put all you have into Clergy to boost your literacy and maybe one day catch up with the west.

While at that, conquer Egypt (before they get friendly with the Brits and the French) starting with the parts that aren't your core (so you can get the infamy burner working earlier). If Germans want to ally with you, go for it. And good luck against Russia.

Which techs help admin efficiency again? I always want to invest in factory tech or railroads but perhaps that's no the best thing to start with?

When you start the game, your #1 move shouldn't be to build a factory, because at your tech level and with your terrible efficiency such a factory is doomed in competition with artisans. First get your admin. efficiency higher up to cut the cost of your government, and then put all you have into Clergy to boost your literacy and maybe one day catch up with the west.

You can't. Unless you annex a lot of European countries you won't be able to catch up with the "major" industry powers.

Disbanding your starting navy helps balance the books early on. Also be opportunistic when Austria is at war with Prussia, Russia or France

There's no point in disbanding the starting navy. You can always turn Clippers/Artillery to manual in the trade screen, and still keep them for transportation and blockade in your thousand small wars against Egypt and Arabic countries. I'd rather build some extra Clippers to easier move bigger armies along the Egyptian coast to avoid attrition.

Originally Posted by IceV

Hmm, it's quite difficult to start as the OE for me. Maybe I'm still just not read for such a task

What's the problem exactly. Make friends with Russia (200 relations + alliance kind of friends), beat Egypt to the point of full annexation, research Biologism and all the colonial techs, colonize Africa while your people learn to read, and when the colonization is done go for full clerks or full craftsmen focus for the rest of the game. In Vicky2 the real limit is the population, if you start modern but without people (Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal) you will always land much worse than if you started outdated but with a big population (Persia, Japan, Ottos, Egypt). In the end, the score is about the number of people working in factories and number of people serving in the army.

“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

There are two schools here, one tells to promote clerks directly, another tells to promote craftsmen and then hope that high literacy will promote enough clerks out of them. I dare say the end result is comparable. I typically promote craftsmen when I am one of the highest populated countries, and i promote clerks when i'm not. Both routes seem to work just fine with the ottos.

“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

When you start the game, your #1 move shouldn't be to build a factory, because at your tech level and with your terrible efficiency such a factory is doomed in competition with artisans. First get your admin. efficiency higher up to cut the cost of your government, and then put all you have into Clergy to boost your literacy and maybe one day catch up with the west.

While at that, conquer Egypt (before they get friendly with the Brits and the French) starting with the parts that aren't your core (so you can get the infamy burner working earlier). If Germans want to ally with you, go for it. And good luck against Russia.

Wierd, in my current game as 2 Sicilies the Ottomans and Russia are allied and the OE attacks me every 5-6 years for Libya back and Russia joins in on me then too. My only saving grace is I've got France as an ally and I've got alliances with most of the Italian minors (fighting with Austria and France for influence there in an attempt to diplomatically form Italy some day). Point is in my game the OE and Russia are friends and allies, perfectly willing to go to war for each other.

Originally Posted by IceV

So I ought ot promote clerks and craftsmen? (I'm assuming the clerks for admin and literacy purposes?)

Right. Clergy for literacy and Clerks for Literacy and Research points IIRC, and of course craftsmen to work in your factories. Theres a sweet spot for Clergy (2% of your population) and Clerks (4% of your population), much like how the first game had a 3:2 ratio for crafstman to clerks in your factories to get optimal performance/efficiency.

I believe you can get a tooltip help option telling you what the sweet spot is, go to your population screen and make sure you're selecting your whole nation and hover over clerks to see what percentage is the optimal.

You can also hover over your research points and see the breakdown of how many research points your clergy and clerks are providing you each day and how they are affecting your literacy level.